Velshi and this is real money. This is real money and you are the most important part of the show so join our live conversation for the next half hour aj realmoney. In december Consumer Confidence surged close to where it stood before the government shownd in october. That episode of washington dysfunction helped to drop the conversation boards low in november. Consumer spending accounts for growth. In addition to a stronger job market and an incredible year for stocks Many Americans are feeling more confident and wealthier because of the rebound in home values. Home prices for 20 cities tracked by the s p case shiller index jumped compared to the year earlier. Thats the biggest jump in eight years. Thats a cautionary note. Cooling off just a bit. Prices rose just 2 10th of a percent. S ps David Blitzer said, we are living on borrowed time and the boom is fading. The question is kment where does the Real Estate Market go from here . Zillow forecast that u. S. Home prices will increase 3 in 2014. To put that in context, zillow said prices went up when 7 in november. 30 year Mortgage Rates rising to 5 by the end of the year up from about four. 5 now. And some good news for first time home buyers, easier for buyers to get a mortgage next year. A slow down in American Home appreciation could also be a good thing for home buyers in a number of u. S. Real estate markets. She explained why earlier this week. Watch. Its been such a frenzy in 2013 and if you were one of the markets like las vegas or phoenix you saw firsthand what a challenge it could have been. You were experiencing bidding wars, you were squeezeout by investors putting down all cash offers. So especially for first time home buyers it was an extremely tough market for home buyers to be in. Well see more inventory on the market and investors are going back a little bit so youll have lest competition and youll be able to really find a house and actually put an offer in and hopefully get that house too. Svenia, we have a map showing country. What is it about these areas that make them particularly competitive and why house prices continue to sort of swell in these areas . A lot of the hot markets in 2013 were also the markets that lost most in terms of home value during the downturn. And what that meant, you created a lot of negative equity. Players like southern california, florida, detroit, and phoenix and las vegas saw extreme drops in home value, oftentimes more than 50 on the way down. And so these homeowners lost a tremendous amount of their value and a lot of times they were left underwater meaning they owed more on their mortgage than their houses were worth. These homeowners were locked into their house and couldnt sell when prices went up again. Supply in the market was really tight and that tight supply meant you had a whole lot of demand especially from investors in that area, because lets face it those areas are still very popular. And you had investors coming in, normal consumers had a lot of demand for homes but there was simply very little on the market to actually buy. Little demand, little supply, and then that economics 101 means prices will be driven up. Thank you for coming in, we appreciate it. Thank you very much for having me. American job growth has picked up steam in the last few months. According to the bureau of labor statistics some industries are thriving more than oarts. That includes others, that includes temporary help jobs. In fact this segment is seeing the fastest growth rate in the labor market. I asked bls, julie hatch, what that means for the economy. It means that employers are township more hesitant to bring on permanent employees. So that means they employ temporary employees prior to amaking a commitment of full time employees. We see this as a future indicator for overall employment gains. Employers are still not very potentially. It is also a way for employers to quickly meet with the demands. Quickly you know to bring on so they can supply the demand thats being asked of them. What are the sectors of the economy where we are seeing the largest growth in terms of the numbers of jobs . One of the Fastest Growing industries is the Food Services and drinking places which accounts for one out of seven total jobs added in 2003. And that would totally be lower waged jobs, right . Currently, earnings over half of the total average, little over 12. Is that because there is a lot of turnover in the Food Services industry because of restaurants opening and closing or because of american habits . What do you attribute to that . As far as the growth in the food service area, it is because of the demand. The sales industry has been growing year after year. It is where consumers are choosing to spend their money. Full Service Restaurants where people would sit down and wait to be waited on, it is actually in both industries. The housing sector has been on a tear lately as far as the overall economy. Have there been more jobs created say in construction . Construction last been trending up, especially the residential portion. Both in the construction of buildings and in the specialty trades they have seen growth this year averaging about 11,000 jobs per month. But construction ask so interesting because its still 2 million below its prerecession peak. What particular jobs have you seen out there that are performing the worst in terms of job creation . Performing the worst, federal government, of course. And that isnt just related to the partial shutdown that we had in october. But its actually been trending down for quite some time now, and this is both in the poaflt Postal Service and nonPostal Service portion. What about the general trend of the economy . A surprise actually 2013 is shaping up to be very similar in 2012. In what way . In what way . In terms of the average jobs gained each month, the average work week is very similar to where we were in 2012 and 2011. And earnings are continuing to outpace inflation. Earnings are growing about 2 over the year. Sit fair to say that if you were in the Construction Industry or the Food Service Preparation industry good situation for you, bad situation if you were a federal government imloas employee where they have been shrinking. Yes. Julie hatch division chief bureau of labor statistics. Good of you to join us tonight. Thank you. Coming up. Have you heard of that online currency, called bitcoin . Well explain what it is and why its not the only game in town. If you think pay is astronomical, wait until you see what Pro Bowl College president s are making. Ahead on real money. Scholars and writers, policy makers and Cultural Icons dont miss the best of talk to al jazeera revealing. He said he was gonna fight for the public option, he didnt do it. Personal. From the time i was about nine, i knew i was different in ways other than just my face. Shocking. Being babtist. They always talk about dont judge other people. But they judge everybody. The conversations people are talking about forget the Democrat Party and forget the reublican party, theyre all one party. Talk to al jazeea on Al Jazeera America. Every sunday night, Al Jazeera America presents extraordinary films from the worlds top documentary directors this week is love enough . That was a dream of ours. Four children. A little girl, removed from everything shes ever known. Shes gone through a ton of orphan stuff. If their hopes dont turn out to be the reality. Are they gonna crash . An unflinching look at a Family Learning to love i think she could have used a hug. Dark matter of love on Al Jazeera America americans shopped online in december for more than just holiday gifts. Health insurance also scored big after troubled start, 975,000 people bought health plans on the federal exchange in december alone. That brings up to 2. 1 million since october. And while thats still far short of the 3. 3 Million People that the administration was shooting for, it suggests obamacare may have finally found its footing. If you are among those who are still not insured, there is still time to get insured before the fines kick in. The rich arent getting richer, according to bloomberg index. Added 524 billion in 2013, the combined net worth of the 300 billionaires now stands at 3. 3 trillion. Like bill gates, the finder of microsoft reclaimed the title as worlds richest person from los slim, remained mexicos richest man. Third is emuncio ortego, the owner of the largest clothing retailer. Rounding off the top 5 swedens rimpest man, controlling stake in ikea. Former new york city mayor Michael Bloomberg is not included in his companys rankings. Net worth of around 31 billion. Bitcoin exploded on the scene. Last month its value soared to over 1200 before settling in around 800. More vendors are accepting bitcoin as payment, and capital firms have invested in bitcoin related start jums. Patricia sabka explains. Born in the wake of the financial crisis when confidence in the Global Financial crisis was shaingen could not be manipulated by a central authority. Bitcoin is the first decentralized Digital Currency. When you use dollars, pesos and yen, the dollars pass through aan intermediary. The transaction is verified by a decentralized network of user computers that stops people from spending the same bitcoin twice, prevents fraud and keeps the supply growing at a steady rate. The fact that the Bitcoin Network is incredibly difficult to hack in the traditional sense, those are the things that all come from its decentralized nature. And those are the things that really make it appealing to people who are joining this revolution in money. The bitcoin user network is made up of miners, to verify transactions with the time stamp. Think of a post mark on an envelope. The miner or group of miners who solve the problem first, are rewarded with a small transaction fee, 25 new bitcoins currently worth about 20,000. Threatens the decentralized nature of the bitcoin, solved much faster using dedicated bhear that is far more harm lful and expensive than your garden variety pc. In the future you may see Something Like an opec of Digital Currency miners. Digital currencies are rising in its shadow. First runner up, lightcoin, though its cap is oant 600 million, lightcoin is designed to be mined by a home computer. Coin market cap lists more than 60 bitcoin alternatives vying for a share of the digitally currency market. Like bitcoin, they are highly volatile. Some can be bought and sold on exchanges. But no matter how attractive, some dont like digital currents, Chinas Central Bank has banned Financial Institutions from manualing bitcoins. Still, Digital Currency advocates insist theres no putting the genie back in the bottle. Instantaneously, without any rm interference. Patricia sabga, new york. One study bitcoin exchanges over three years. It found nearly a quarter had experienced Security Breaches and nearly half had closed shop and in some cases customers were not reimbursed. Its prime time for college football. More companies are jumping on board with big bowl sponsorships and naming rights. Some are getting the payoffs and its not college athletes. Well see the impact on your own wallet. And a glass that is definitely more than halffull. Ira glass, creator of this American Life. We have the luxury thats able to go journalism that is not just entertainment, but a gripping story that will unfold. Those stories and more as real money continues. New lights use low wattage led rights, neither harmful for the trees nor dangerous for the kids that may touch them. Many playoff spots in the n. F. L. Are still to be decided. Mark morgan is here to explain it all. Hey, a lot of anxiety in dallas, wondering what the Dallas Cowboys would do. Tony romeo underwent back surgery. Kyle ortman will start quarterback in the eagles game. Sher een williams of the Fort Worth Star telegram weighs in. That lees this game in the hands of kyle orten, he made 69 starts. Hes 35 and 34. But has not thrown a pass as a starter and only thrown 15 passes over the last two years. It takes the pressure off the cowboys. No doubt about that. They can go in, play loose and the stream is uniquely interactive television. Sea prie time for college football. A prie 35 bowl games are played between late december and early january. That number will grow to 39 next year. And it seems every bowl is tied to a Big Name Company like the Buffalo Wild Wings bowl, the go daddy bowl and the outback bowl, just to name a few. It costs 15 to20 million to get d to 20 million to get the naming rights. I asked patrick reich, watch. Some of that money is going to the conferences of the schools that participate in the game, this year of course stanford and Michigan State so that means that the pac 12 and the big 10 are getting a lot of that money. And of course the people that organize these games, the ceos of the goal games, you can see payments sometimes anywheres from 300,000 to 1 million for putting on one game a year. A millionaire for putting on one rose bowl . Thats pretty good payout. What about the corporations themselves, to get their name associated with the bowl, what do these corporations get . Well typically speaking youll see that it costs somewhere between a couple hundred thousand to sponsor a bowl game to as much as 15 or 20 million. I think its more typical to see values say in between a million and 7 million per year and usually sponsors have to commit for three or four years. Theyre getting visibility, theyre getting exposure. The question of course which none of us know is are they really actually seeing a spike in sales. Most companies are not going to share that information unless that information is positive. Its upon this is just vanity, the executives of vizeo and others, they get they want to see in all state with the sugar bowl, these organization they have been out there for a long time. They like the visibility, they are getting exposure and branding, and thats valuable. Again whether that translates into sales only they know. But then you have some of the smaller sponsors like the royal purple vegas bowl, royal purple is based out of texas. They decided to put their name on the vegas bowl for the next three years. So sometimes Companies Want to expand their reach into another part of the country in this case from the south to the west. They have to see in three years time and evaluate whether its worth it for them. But somebody may have to pay more for the price of tostitos, because they are sponsoring and may not get the money back themselves . Thats true. Patricia economics. Thank you for being with us. Youre welcome. California. In the world of broadcasting one of the most criticallying acclaimed shows around this American Life hosted by ira glass, they try to maximize the quality of their reporting and the experience of their listeners. Along the way glass has collected every major Broadcasting Award and has attracted a massive following. Never mind his radio listeners, glass has a million listeners who weekly download his podcast. His unique ability to report hard news stories. We try to be funny which is very, very rare. When you meet broadcast journalists, almost always they are superfunny people off camera. But the format that theyre in doesnt have the space for them to be that person on camera. I mean, when we did our hour on guantanamo, i can remember, 200, 300 people had been released from guantanamo, already, the u. S. Had interrogated these guys, it was a mistake to pick you up. We realized 200, 300 people like that had been released, years ago, and nobody had ever interviewed them in american broadcast journal. They hadnt been on tv, hadnt been oradio, couldnt find anybody who had interviewed them. We can do that. We sent translators to other countries and tried to get them on the air to say, what happened to you . How were you treated . Do you want to kill us all now, how are you feeling about that experience . Just ask normal things that any reporter would ask. But the packaging of that show i have to say, you know, we felt like people dont want to hear an hour about guantanamo generally. Im superinterested in it but even i if it was a big headline guantanamo an hour you would go oh no, thats going to be so heavy, i already have an opinion about it and i know what i think. I know like i think its incumbent on all of us, all broadcasters you have to be cunning about how do you even bring this up in an area that people want to watch the second minute of your show and i feel like probably its radio we can back into it and start a story going and before you know it, its going to be about guantanamo. And we feel very conscious of all the things that will make people go like, no, i dont want to hear that. Back people into stories so before they know it were able to present something new they havent heard about something that would be hopefully interesting for them to hear. And then as part of that we want to use humor as much as we can. I mean i say with pride that i think we did the single funniest hour on guantanamo that any broadcasters have done. And it sounds like glib and stupid but i feel like that i think is necessary. Like its a really funny show. But also, dark and serious and also presenting an analysis that at that point wasnt out there quite so much in the press. Last year, we became interested in all the shootings going on in chicago. Last year, 506 people were shot in a single year in the city of chicago, and as regular news viewers know other cities around the country, other big cities are either stable or going down in the number of shootings and chicago was climbing at the time and it wasnt really clear why and 506 is just a huge number. New york city is three times larger than chicago and that number was larger than new york. And we basically sent three reporters into Harbor High School for five months to basically just and Harbor High School was a school in chicago not wellknown, not famous, not even the worst school in the city by far. Its just a school that gave us access where they had had 29 shootings in one school year. And i cant remember if it was eight or nine kids died in one school. We felt like this is a neighborhood that knows something about, how to live through all this violence that none of us know. But also document the staff was enormously competent at trying to quell the violence. And when one kid would get shot they had all these procedures they had learned from the army, actually, afteraction reports where they would jump into action to name who all the other kids were who might be affiliated with that kid who might also be shot, retaliatory shootings so you could watch this school try to deal with this thing. A glimpse at the one and only ira glass, a host of this American Life on public radio. Top resolutions in america are to lose wealth, get a better job, and improve your financial budgeting. In 2014, eat fried foods twice a day instead of three times. Walk daily, put your resume in a pdf form and once a day think about looking at your bank statement. Its easy. But whats more difficult is feelings. Are you messing up, do you dwell on past mistake, imagination theyre a sham, who thinks they are the kind of person they can or should be . Me too. The fact is we all have selfdoubts in common. Recognizing that however, can be a challenge. So heres a simple resolution in 2014 try to be 4 nicer to everybody including yourself, jury 4 and carry around antibacterial gel. Dont over think it. That can help everybody in 2014. Happy new year. Im David Shuster in for ali velshi, thanks for watching. Check check check this is Al Jazeera America live from new york city. Im Morgan Radford with your headlines. Secretary of state john kerry arrived in jordan, the second leg of a mid east tour aimed at brokering a peace deal between the israelis and palestinians. Hell travel to saudi arabia, and earlier the secretary of state wrapped up a three day visit to ramallah and jerusalem where he discussed the peace talks with the president of both. He said any peace plan would be fair and valid. The search for survivors in india continues after a building collapsed killing 14. At least 10pl